METRO NEWS BRIEFS: NEW JERSEY

Published: July 9, 1998

JERSEY CITY—
A Jersey City police officer was acquitted yesterday of murdering her boyfriend, a fellow officer, after she told jurors that she shot him in self-defense at the end of their abusive three-year relationship.

In September 1995, Officer Kimberly Greenleaf, 36, of Jersey City, shot Officer Thomas Marchitto in the throat after he began to beat her during an argument, which started when she broke off their relationship, said Dennis McAlevy, Officer Greenleaf's lawyer.

The jury of nine women and three men, which deliberated for six hours, had the option of convicting the officer of murder or of lesser charges.

Officer Greenleaf, who was suspended without pay following her indictment in June 1996, could be reinstated within a day or two, pending a review of her acquittal by police officials, said Sgt. Edgar Martinez, a spokesman for the Jersey City Police Department.